TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Long before he was a U.S. Senate candidate in Kansas, Greg Orman was a young businessman in Minnesota with a bright idea.
As a recent college graduate, Orman founded Environmental Lighting Concepts in 1992. The company updated older buildings with more energy efficient lighting fixtures — often with an enticement of rebates from utility companies.
The lighting company is where Orman first tested the business acumen that he now touts in his campaign as an independent challenger to Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. It’s where Orman began building his wealth. And it’s where he started a pattern of developing, expanding and then selling businesses after they became profitable.
Those who worked with Orman at his first business describe a man who seemed driven to succeed.
ARKANSAS CITY — Law enforcement authorities arrested a Kansas man Thursday morning after he stole a sheriff deputy’s patrol vehicle.
According to a release from Cowley County, deputies stopped a vehicle for a speed violation in the 21000 block of U.S. 77 on Wednesday evening. Upon further investigation, the back-seat passenger was identified as Derek Matthew Shrewsberry, Arkansas City.
The deputy knew there was an active warrant for probation violation with no bond for Shrewsberry.
The deputy also observed drug paraphernalia in the back seat.
The deputy placed him under arrest for that warrant. He was handcuffed behind his back, placed in the patrol car and belted in.
The deputy returned to the stopped vehicle and explained to the driver what he had observed. As the deputy was removing the front-seat passenger, he saw Shrewsberry leave in the patrol vehicle.
Approximately 6 miles south of the original stop location, the suspect passed another deputy responding to the area. The suspect abandoned the patrol vehicle and fled on foot.
A search of the area was discontinued just after 3 a.m. Authorities, acting on information they had received, arrested Shrewsberry in Arkansas City. He is being held in the Cowley County jail on felony theft and weapons charges.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Machinists Union is backing the final contract offer made by Textron Aviation to its Cessna and Beechcraft workforces.
KAKE reported that union members are scheduled to vote on the proposed contract on Friday.
The union told employees Wednesday that the offer commits to increasing jobs in Wichita, preserves seniority for both workforces and provides improved pay and competitive benefits.
The contract combines the two separate local unions of Beechcraft Corp. and Cessna Aircraft under a single labor agreement. Textron, Cessna’s parent company, bought Beechcraft in March and formed Textron Aviation.
The Machinists represent 2,494 hourly workers at Cessna under Local Lodge 774 and 1,627 hourly workers at Beechcraft under Local Lodge 733.
In putting together the eBook, Graham revisited his 1978 publication Fleetwood Mac — The Authorized History, and added multimedia content with help from artist and illustrator Kirsten Huntley.
The eBook includes 30 digitized audio clips from cassette-tape interviews the writer conducted with Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie; former Fleetwood Mac members Jeremy Spencer and the late Bob Welch; and early producer Mike Vernon.
Before the Beginning also offers scanned images of letters sent between Graham and ex-Fleetwood Mac manager Clifford Davis, autographed photos, notes from conversations Sam had with Mac bassist John McVie and founding lead guitarist Peter Green, and a timeline of the band’s history from 1967 to 1983.
With regard to what’s included in the text of the eBook, Graham notes, “The Lindsey-Stevie era is by far the longest and most productive, but they had an inspiring and tumultuous prior history, so that’s in there too. We tried to satisfy both those who knew there was a Fleetwood Mac before ‘Rhiannon’ or Rumours and those who didn’t.”
Former Fort Hays State University President Edward H. Hammond now has two buildings that bear his name. On Saturday, Fort Hays State officially dedicated the former Center for Networked Learning as Hammond Hall. The building houses the Informatics Department, Virtual College, Tiger Media Network and CTELT. The dedication comes after a building on the campus of Sias University in the Henan Province of China was dedicated in Hammond’s name.
“Today, I stand here very proud and humble because I see so many people that made the successes that I get credit for possible,” Hammond said in front of a standing-room-only crowd. “This beautiful building contains the DNA of the vision that I brought to Fort Hays State 28 years ago.”
During his time as president, Hammond was instrumental in creating all three departments that are housed in the new building. The Virtual College at Fort Hays State was created in 1999 under Hammond’s leadership and now serves more than 5,800 students. FHSU offers 19 bachelor and 10 master degree programs online.
“(In 1987) when I was interviewing with the Board of Regents, I brought up the idea of high-tech, high-touch,” Hammond said. “I said we’re going to electrify the campus by taking the very best of technology and integrate it with the very best of personal touch that our faculty are known for and create an unusual learning environment that would provide students with the opportunity to grow and flourish.”
“During our presentations all over western Kansas, I talked about the ability to deliver education to anyone at anytime at any place and that was how our Virtual College evolved,” he said.
Hammond also spoke of the beginnings of the Informatics Department, Center for Teaching Excellence and Technology and Tiger Media Network, which were discussed with the Board of Regents in 1987.
“I’m very humbled about this building because it in effect represents in its DNA the things that I started talking about 28 years ago,” he said.
Hammond continued to talk about his unique friendship with former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole. The lobby of Hammond Hall also was dedicated Saturday in honor of Dole’s sisters. Dole was also in attendance for the dedication.
“Bob Dole and I have had a professional friendship for over 28 years,” Hammond said. “I would go to Washington about three times a year and, as a young president, he would always make time to see me.”
President Mirta Martin also talked about her new friendship with Hammond after taking the reins of Fort Hays State in July.
“I could not have asked for a more gracious and kinder friend and predecessor that I have found in Dr. Ed Hammond,” Martin said. “He has generously given his time to share information, advice and love and, more importantly, introduced me to all that are here and beyond, the family of Fort Hays State University.”
ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press
JACK GILLUM, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI director is warning against smartphone encryption.
James Comey is talking about tech companies like Apple and Google that say their new operating systems will be encrypted, or protected by coding. Comey says encrypting smartphone data has serious consequences for law enforcement and national security agencies.
Comey spoke Thursday at the Brookings Institution. He says encryption is like a safe that can’t be cracked or a closet that can’t be opened. The FBI director says justice may be denied because of a locked phone and that critical information routinely comes from smartphones, hard drives and online sources.
Comey says while some people believe the government sweeps up all cellphone communications or has access to all communications at all times, that’s not the case.
VALLEY CITY, N.D. (AP) — The committee searching for a new president for Valley City State University has named two finalists.
North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education will interview Fort Hays State vice president Tisa Mason and Nebraska-Omaha associate vice chancellor Daniel Shipp on Oct. 30 and then choose one of them to succeed Steven Shirley.
Shirley took over as president of Minot State University in July.
Mason and Shipp were among five semifinalists whom the search committee interviewed in person this week.
Candidates no longer in the running are Wisconsin-Stevens Point provost and vice chancellor Greg Summers, Minnesota West Community and Technical College past president Richard Shrubb, and Debra Thatcher, acting president of State University of New York College of Agriculture and Technology at Cobleskill.
HAYS, Kan. – Susan Frances (Shrader) Green, age 64, died Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at KU Medical Center in Kansas City.
She was born January 19, 1950, in Anaheim, California, to Douglas Roy and Frances Hazel (Freeman) Shrader.
She was a legal secretary for many years. She attended high school in Vancouver, Washington and attended college in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver area. She lived in Sacramento, California and Wichita before moving to Hays in 1995.
Survivors include her twin sons, Alex Green and Matthew Green, both of Hays, KS; son, Scott Green of Hays, KS; one daughter, Courtney Green, Hays, KS; her former husband, Keith Green, Hays, KS; two brothers, Mike Shrader and wife, Shirley, Austin TX; Steve Shrader and wife, Cheri, Anchorage, AK; four nieces, Tanya Fandrich and husband, Ken, Oregon City, Oregon; Tamara Blair and husband, Todd, Issaquah, WA; Erika Harvey and husband, Marc, Matthews, NC and Vicki Shrader-Brister and husband, Chuck, Austin, TX.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her twin brother, Patrick Shrader.
A memorial service will be held at 1:00 P.M. Saturday, October 18, 2014, at Cline’s Mortuary of Hays, 1919 East 22nd Street, Hays, Kansas 67601. The family will receive friends from 12:00 to 1:00 P.M. Saturday, at Cline’s Mortuary of Hays. A private family inurnment will be held at a later date.
Memorials to charity of choice. Condolences can be sent via email to [email protected]
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — University of Kansas Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little says the university is working to improve its handling of sexual violence on the Lawrence campus.
Gray-Little briefed the Kansas Board of Regents Wednesday on steps the school has taken to address the issue. Kansas, Kansas State University and Washburn University are among 85 universities nationwide being investigated for their handling of sexual assault complaints.
The chancellor says the school established a task force to recommend improvements for handling the complaints. And Kansas is now enforcing a requirement that students complete a training program in sexual assault and harassment before they can register for classes.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports the provost’s office also is temporarily funding a full-time position for someone to counsel victims, witnesses and others affected by sexual assault.
Two undergraduates botanists in the Department of Biological Sciences at Fort Hays State University won awards for their posters at a national conference and earned mention in the fall 2014 Planet Science Bulletin published by the Botanical Society of America.
Keri Caudle, Hays senior, and Christina Hilt, St. Francis senior, both had presentations in the “poster session” at Botany 2014, this year’s version of the annual conference of the Botanical Society of America.
Hilt’s poster, “Physiological Responses of Grasses to Drought and Flooding Treatment,” won the Li-COR Prize in the physiological section. The Li-COR Prize acknowledges the best presentation made by any student.
Caudle’s poster, “Pigment Variation Among Ecotypes of Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) Across a Precipitation Gradient,” won the Student Presentation Award in the physiological section.
“There was no category for undergraduate students. This was ‘best student award,’ meaning they beat M.S. and Ph.D. students to win their awards,” said Dr. Brian Maricle, associate professor of biological sciences. “Furthermore, there were no second-place awards. It was winner take all.”
Students worldwide entered the poster session, including students from Harvard University, Bucknell University and the University of Toronto.
This year’s conference was in Boise, Idaho, with 1,056 botanists from 49 states and 39 countries.
Do elections matter? The short answer is an emphatic “Yes,” even though it’s easy to be cynical and disillusioned.
In 1974, state senate president Robert Bennett, a moderate Republican, came from far behind to edge attorney general Vern Miller, a relatively conservative Democrat.
Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.
The differences were clear between Bennett, the bearded Johnson County policy wonk and Miller, the flamboyant Wichita lawman.
Bennett was known for meticulously examining the state budget, line by line. Miller’s notoriety stemmed from his hands-on style, popping out of car trunks during drug busts.
Miller’s substantial lead eroded, partly because of his continued presence in drug raids, an unseemly activity for a prospective governor. Bennett, a famously reluctant campaigner, did enough to win by 3000 votes in a photo finish. Over the next four years he completed the extensive reforms of Kansas government he had begun as a state senator.
Those modernizing reforms set Kansas on a course of almost forty years of successful moderate-conservative government, which came to a crashing end with the 2010 electoral successes of Sam Brownback and a wave of far-right state house members.
Bob Bennett’s election was crucial in developing a balanced tax system and a responsive state government. To be sure, Kansas politicians have fought over many issues, from abortion to KPERS funding to school finance, but the pivotal 1974 election set the overall direction of policy-making.
In 2014, Kansas voters are faced with an even more important choice than in 1974, when moderate legislators would have eventually worked with Miller to produce essential reforms.
Simply put, the future of Kansas is at stake in this year’s gubernatorial contest. Both Sam Brownback and his Democratic opponent, Paul Davis would probably agree with that statement, as would their supporters and most close political observers around the state.
The race’s outlines are familiar. Brownback and the Legislature engaged in a self-proclaimed experiment by enacting major income tax cuts, which reduced taxes substantially for the wealthiest Kansans and eliminated them for an entire class of businesses (more than 191,000). In addition, the governor rejected hundreds of millions in federal money that would have helped Kansans gain access to health care. Per pupil state aid to education has fallen, and teachers have lost the right of due process in fighting dismissals.
There is more, to be sure, but the crucial elements here are the sharp tax cuts, unevenly spread between rich and poor, the resulting steep reductions in revenues, the ensuing bond-rating downgrades, and the prospect of even further large cuts to education spending, from kindergarten through graduate school.
In a nutshell, this election is a referendum on that record and whether a far-right administration will continue these policies.
In assessing the future under a Brownback regime, former state legislator and budget director Duane Goossen concludes that the state has “no plan that even pretends to show how the experiment might succeed. No spreadsheet that outlines details. No timeline. No metrics for what would constitute success or failure.” Rather, as I’ve previously argued, we have a faith-based budget – faith in policies that have failed elsewhere and that other states view with alarm.
Over the course of the campaign, Paul Davis has demonstrated continued competence, in building a campaign organization, raising funds, and providing consistent evidence in debates that he is fully capable of governing.
Given that, the choice in just over two weeks is whether Kansas voters want more of a failed, experimental, unsound set of policies or whether they want to return to the balanced approach that Robert Bennett and a bipartisan group of talented legislators produced, forty years ago.
Burdett Loomis is a professor of political science at the University of Kansas.
Arista’s Brad Paisleyisn’t a moonshiner, but he plays one in his new clothing line. The superstar has partnered with Boot Barn to launch Moonshine Spirit by Brad Paisley, including boots, jeans, hats, t-shirts, jewelry, belts and woven shirts. “Boot Barn and I have created what I think is an authentic and very wearable line of country clothing,” says Paisley. “It’s hip, modern, progressive, rugged and country – ready for the stage and ready to go out on the town. It embodies the enthusiasm of my new album Moonshine In The Trunk.” The duds debut at the Nashville Boot Barn grand opening Oct. 24 and nationwide Dec. 1.
